Engaging and disengaging gear for ships&#39; boats



APPLICATION FILED APR- 1, I92I- I am Q 9 M; 1H F 0 s u 5 mm w m 33,8 mum I 0. J. McGO-WAN. ENGAGING AND DISENGAGINQGEAR run SHIPS sous. APPLICATION FILED APR. 1= 192!-.

Patented Jan. 17, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2| i lll Svwmtoz L aWMJ/WJMM UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ENGAGING AND DISENGAGING GEAR FOR SHIPS BOATS.

Application filed April 1, 1921.

To aZZ IF/(OWL it may concern:

Be it known that I, OwnN J. MoGowAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Brooklyn, city of New York, in the county'of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Engaging and Disengaging Gears for Ships Boats, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in engaging and disengaging gear for ships boat-s.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an engaging and disengaging gear for ships boats comprising an automati- Callya'eleasabl'e hook composed of a body portion. and a weighted bill portion in com hination with a shackle, adapted to suspend the weight of a boat from the hook, and means associated with the shackle preferably comprising a segmental locking bolt pivoted on the Shackle ring for locking the weighted bill of the hook against automatic releasing.

Another object of my invention is to enable the locking of a hook attached to the falls by means of locking device associated with or pivotally connected to the shackle.

Another object of my invention is to provide such a hook and locking means at opposite ends of a life boat, in combination with means within the body of the life boat for simultaneously releasing the locking means for the hooks at opposite ends; where- .iy such hooks will be prepared for automatic action and will be caused,immediately the load is relieved therefrom, to automatically release'and disengage the shackle and thus disconnect thelife boat from the falls,

'and this unlocking and automatic releasing may, if desired. be accomplished simultaneously at the time the load is" relieved from the hook hutcomplete disconnection of the shackle cannot be accomplished prior to the relief of the hook from the load as for example when the boat carried by the hooks is waterborne.

\Vith these and other objects in view, the invention comprises the combination of members andarrangemcnt of parts so combined as to co-act and cooperate with each other in the performanc'e'of the functions and the accomplishment of the results herein contemplated, and comprises in one of its adaptations the species or preferred form illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 17, 1922.

Serial No. 457,759.

Fig. l is a side elevation of a life boat, partially broken away, and mounted in a pair of davits by means of hooks, shackle and locking means embodying my invention;

Fig.- 2 is an enlarged side elevation of a releasing hook and shackle in locked position;

Fig; 3 is a similar view of the hook and shackle after the same have been disengaged;

Fig. 4- is a front end elevation of the hook in locked position as shown Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7-7 of Fig. 6.

Referring now to these drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, 1 and 2 indicate a pair of davits of any suitable construction from the upper ends of which is suspended a life boat 3 by means of falls 4 and an engaging and disengaging gear 5 embodying my invention, part of this gear being, as illustrated, connected to the shackle on the boat and part of it being suspended'from the rings 6 of the falls 41-. As illustrated, each of the engaging and disengaging gears comprises a swivelled hook member 7 attached to the falls and a pivoted shackle member 8 comprising an avoidal ring attached to the boat and a (lapted to swing over the hook member andconnect the falls to the life boat and suspend the latter from the davits] Each of the hooks, which are similar in construct-ion, comprises a body portion 7, preferably shaped asshown. with a stop fin l0 and a-hook-seat 11. A bill portion 12 is pivoted at 9 on the outer edge of the body 7 and. has at one side of the pivot 9 a curved tail-portion 13 adapted to fit over and abut against the hook-seat ll of the bod). The outer end of the bill at the opposite side of the pivot 9 is weighted to cause the tail portion when unloaded and otherwise unrestrained: to swing out of its seat and into substantially vertical position, but when a boat or other load is suspended from the hook the shackle ring will overlie the tail portion of the bill which will be retained in contact with the seat of the hook against the action of the weighted bill and'so long as'the load acts upon the tail portion the shackle ring will be securely held in engagement, but, so soon as the Weight of the load is relieved from the hook, the weighted bill portion will cause a disengagement or releasing of the shackle from the hook, the

weighted bill swinging downwardly and' causing the tail portion to swing on its pivot and eject the ring from its seat on said tail portion. This leaves the boat or othe' load free from engagement.

In accordance with the present invention, a hook of the type above specified is securely locked or fastened against such automatic releasing action by fastening means until the same is manually unfastened or unlocked. This fastening means is mounted in association or connection with the shackle ring e. As shown, said fastening means comprises a segmental block ll swinging on a pivot 15 on the shackle ring 8. This fastening l'neferably is formed in the shape of a segment and tits when the parts are assembled in engaged position into an open ing provided therefor beneath the hook seat in the body portion. of the hook, and preferably has a depending bolt portion ll which extends downwardly on the side of the shackle ring 8 opposite to that on which it is pivoted and into abutment with the tin Y body portion to lock or of the body portion, so that when the bill is raised and the shackle ring seated upon the tail portion thereof, the fastening segmentmay be moved pivotally beneath the fasten the shackle ring to the said body portion 9. The said fastening segment also preferably has an upwardly-extending lever-arm 16 adapted to engage the lower end. of the weighted bill portion of the hook to more securely lock the parts against automatic releasing action. The engagingor abutting portion of said lever arm 16 is preferably provided with a s urin ressed latch 16 of any suitable form l: r e

to latch together the abutting end of said upwardly extending arm and an abutment 'ing or unfastcning o l the fastening members for l'iothhool zs, and for this purpose I provide ropes l8 and 19 each connected at one end to the upwardlyextending lever-arm 16 1 2O pivotedin any'suitable position within the boat. Said winding drum is, as illustrated, provided'vnth a handle Ql-Whereby a turning of the drum in one direction will 1,&03,798

cause a simultaneous pulling of opposite ropes to cause the segmental fastening blocks ends of the boat will be simultaneously prepared for automatic action as soon as the weight of the boat is relieved therefrom. This relief of the load will, of course, occur when the boat is waterborne. lVhen the boatis so waterborne, the weighted end of the bill 12 will, immediately upon the weight of the load being relieved from the tail portion, swing downwardly and cause an ejection of the shackle ring 8, and thus automatically disengaging the boat from the falls at both ends simultaneously. To engage the hook with the shackle again, it is only necessary to swing the shackle ring overthe bill portion and lift the same to cause the tail portion to seat upon the hook seat in the body portion and then to fasten or look the shackle in place by swinging the segmental fastening block into place beneath the body and bill portions respectively. The hook will thereupon be securely fastened or locked in engagement with the shackle.

This fastening of the hook against releas ing action enables the gear to be handled with much greater facility and much greater security than heretofore besides enabling the releasing of the hooks on opposite ends simultaneously by a single man.

It will be obvious that the manual release of the fastening means may be accomplished at the same time thatthe boat is waterborne, whereupon the manual release of the fastening means and, the automatic relasc of the shackle by the weighted bill portion of the hook will take place simultaneously. 7

Having described my invention I claim l. The combination with a davit and falls suspended therefrom of a releasing hook connected to said falls; a shackle connected to the boat adapted to engage said hook; means associated with the hook for automatically releasing said shackle from the hook when the weight of the load is relieved. from the hook; and means associated with the shackle for fastening said automatic-release means against automatic action and means for unfastening saidfastening means.

2. In combination. with a pair of davits,

each provided with falls and a releasing hook suspended from said falls, shackles mounted on opposite ends of a life boat; means connected. with said hooks adapted to cause automatierelease of the shackle when the weight of the boatis relieved therefrom; means associated with the shackle for fastening said rel easing means against automatic action, and means in the-boat for simultaneously unfa-stening the said locking means at opposite ends of the life boat to prepare both hooks for .automatic disengagement.

3. The combination with a davit and falls suspended therefrom, of a releasing hook connected to said falls; a shackle connected to the boat adapted to engage said hook; means a sociated with the hook for automatically releasing said shackle from the hook when the weight of'the load is relieved from the hook; and means associated with the shackle adapted to engage between the hook and shackle ring to lock the ring in its seat in the hook.

t. The combination with a davit and falls suspended therefrom. of a releasing hook connected to said falls; a shackle connected to the boat adapted to engage said hook; means pivotally connected withthe hook for causing the automatic release of said shackle from the hook when the weight of the load is relieved from the hook; and means associated with the shackle adapted to engage the pivoted releasing means to lock the shackle to the hook. p

5. In combination, a davit for raising and lowering ships boats; falls suspended from said davit; a shackle pivotally mounted in a boat; a hook suspended from said falls comprising a body portion a weighted bill pivoted to said body and having a tail extending over the body to "form a shacklering seat and adapted normally to cause an automatic releasing of the hook from the shackle ring; and means having a pivotal connection with the shackle for fastening said ring within the ring seat to prevent automatic action thereof and means for releasing said fastening means.

(3. In combination, a davit for raising and lowering ships boats; falls suspended from said davit; a shackle ring pivotally mounted in a boat; a hook suspended from said falls comprising a body portion; a weighted bill pivoted to said bod} and having a. tail eX tending over the body to form a shackle ring seat and normally cause an automatic releasing of the hook from the shackle; and means associated with the shackle adapted to engage-the weighted bill portion of said hook to lock the shackle to the hook.

'T. in combination, a davit for raising and lowering ships boats; falls suspended from so id davit; a shackle ring pivotally mounted in a boat; a hook suspended from said. falls COlIlDl'lSlllg a body portion having a fin adapted to abut against one side of the shackle; a weighted bill pivoted to said body at the front of the hook above said in and having a tail extending over the body to form a shackle-ring seat and normally cause an automatic releasing of the hook "from the shackle; the said parts being arranged to leave a space between the body portion of the hook and the bottom of the shackle ring when the same is in engagement with saidring seat, a segmental block pivoted to the shackle ring and adapted to'be inserted between the bottom of said ring and the body portion to fasten said body portion to the shaftwith the shackle ring in en ement with the ring seat of said weig te L bill. i

In combination, a davit for raising and lowering ships boats; falls suspended from said davit; a shackle ring pivotally mounted in a boat; a hook suspended from said falls comprising body portion having a in adapted to abut against one side of the shackle; a weighted bill pivoted to said body at the front oi the hook above said tin and having a tail extending over the bot y to form a shackle-riug seat and normally cause an automatic releasing of the hook from the shackle; the said parts being arranged to leave a space between the body portion ot the hook and the bottom or". the shackle ring when the same is in engagement with said ring seat. a segmental block pivoted to the shackle ring and adapted to be inserted between the bottom of said ring and the body portion torfasten said body portion to the shaft with the shackle ring in engagement with the ring seat of said Weigh edbill; said segmental block having a depending flange adapted to be inserted between the body portion of the hook and to abut against the shackle ring on the opposite side on which the segment is pivoted.

9. In combination, a davit for raising and lowering ships boats; falls suspended from said davit; a shackle ring pivotally mounted in a boat; a hook suspended from said falls comprising a body portion having a fin adapted to abut against one side of the shackle; a weighted bill pivoted to said body at the front of the hook above said fin and having a tail extending over the body to form a shackle-ring seat and normally cause an automatic releasing of the hook from the shackle; the said parts being arranged to leave a space between the body portion of the hook and the bottom of the shackle ring when the same is in engagement with said ring seat. a segmental block pivoted to the shackle ring and adapted to be inserted between the bottom of said ring and the body portion to fasten said body portion to the shaft with the sllackle ring in engagement with the ring seat of said weighted bill, said segmental block having an arm adapted to abut against the under side of the bill to lock the same in raised engaging position; and means within the boat for untastening said segmental block to prepare the hooks for automatic action.

10. In combination, a davit for raising and lowering ships boats; falls suspended from said davit; a shackle ring pivotally mounted in boat; a hook suspended from said falls comprising a body portion having a fin adapted to abut against one side of the shackle; a Weighted bill pivoted to said body at the front of the hook above said fin and having a tail extending over the body to form a shackle-ring seat and normally cause an automatic releasing of the hook from the shackle; the said parts being arranged to leave a space between the body portion of the hook and the bottom of the shackle ring when the same is in engagement with said ring seat, a segmental block pivoted to the shackle ring and adapted to be inserted between the bottom of said ring and the body portion tofasten said body portion to the shaft with the shackle ring in engagement with the ring seat of said weighted bill, said segmental block having an arm adapted to abut against the under side of the bill to lock the same in raised said body at the front of the hook above said fin and having a tail extending over the body to forma shackle-ring seat and normally cause an automatic releasing of the hook from the shackle; the said parts being arranged to leave a space between the body portion ofthe hook and the bottom of the shackle ring when the same is in engagement with said ring seat; a segmental block pivoted to the shackle ring and adapted to be inserted between the bottom of said ring and the body portion to fasten said body portion to the shaft with the shackle ring in engagement with the ring seat of said weighted bill, said segmental block having an arm adapted to abut against the under side of the bill to lock the same in raised engaging position; connections with arms at the opposite ends of the life boat extend ing to a common point within the life boat and means for simultaneouslypulling such connections to release the fastening segmental block and arms to prepare the hooks at opposite ends for automatic action. I In witness whereof, I have signed my name to the foregoing specincation in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

OWEN J. MOGOWAN. lVitnesses G120. A. RIBLET, FREDERICK P. RANDOLPH. 

